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Woodlands care home to close says county

Last updated at 21:44, Thursday, 12 April 2012

WOODLANDS care home in Distington WILL close, it has been announced today.

Woodlands Residential Care Home, Distington

Cumbria County Council's Cabinet has today agreed to changes to care services for older people in Allerdale. These include the closure of Woodlands home in Distington, investment in high level home care services and upgrades to two further care homes in Maryport and Wigton.

The decision was made to retain Park Lodge in Aspatria and Richmond Park in Workington. At the same time the council will look in more detail at the development of extra care schemes in Workington and Aspatria. This will involve developing a proposal and business case for consideration by Cabinet at a future date.

The Cabinet also approved the investment in high level home care services and upgrades for two further homes.

High level home care services, supported by assistive technology, allow people to remain supported at home. These are services that combine a traditional domiciliary home care service with basic nursing tasks.

This service currently supports many people across the district to remain living independently at home but is currently only available during the night in Allerdale and Distington area. This service will be expanded to 24 hours, seven days a week to enable more people to benefit from this care and support at home.

Assistive technology is a range of devices and systems that support independence and a safer environment at home such as fall detectors, low and high temperature sensors, movement sensors, epilepsy sensors and carer pager alerts.

Parkside (Maryport) and Inglewood (Wigton) will be upgraded in line with University of Sterling Dementia Gold Standards to improve care for people with dementia. The changes could include signage, floor coverings, assistive technology and decoration which can all reduce the stress, anxiety and frustrations experienced by many dementia sufferers, and ultimately support an improvement in the quality of life and retention of dignity.

The first stage of closure of Woodlands will be to cease admissions to the home. The Council will work with residents, their families and staff to decide on the most appropriate alternative care and ensure the move from old to new is handled sensitively to ensure the well being of all residents. Depending on the needs of individual residents this will happen over the next 12 months.

The council will also work with staff and the trade unions to develop options including redeployment into protected vacancies within Cumbria Care and across the wider council. The authority has been protecting vacancies in other county council run care services across the district.

Councillor James Airey, Cabinet member for adult social care, said: “We need to respond to the growth in our older population here in Cumbria. The modernisation of social care services is essential to ensure we can provide older people with choice about their care and support to live independently.

“We have taken on board the concerns raised about availability of residential services. In both Aspatria and Workington ideas emerged from the consultation and we want to work with the community to explore those options in more detail.

“In addition we will be investing in high level of support at home to enable more people to remain independent and upgrading care homes in Maryport and Wigton to improve the specialist care we provide to those who need it most.

“We took the decision to close Woodlands as the building is dated and there are a number of alternative services already available that support people with high level needs. We will do everything we can to ensure the transition is as smooth as possible for those affected.”

Eddie Martin, leader of Cumbria County Council, said: “We have listened to what the community have told us, we've heard their concerns and have responded. We feel that retaining the facilities at Park Lodge and Richmond Park and closing Woodlands, along with the investment in community services and our exploration of extra care schemes, are the right decisions for the communities."